Sweden tops new global economic ranking

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Sweden ranks number one in the world in a new measure of economic growth and development, maintaining the country's hold on the top spot despite the global financial crisis.

The ranking, compiled by accountancy firm PwC, is based on a twenty different factors including technology, regulatory framework, sustainability, and other economic indicators to give a "holistic measure of a country's performance and progress over time".

Sweden, which achieved an overall score of 70.5 on PwC's Escape (Economic, Social, Communication, Political and Environmental) index, was followed by Switzerland (70.3) and Singapore (66.3).

Nordic neighbour Finland landed in fifth place, followed by Denmark. The United States, meanwhile was ranked 18th, followed by the UK. Overall, 42 advanced and emerging economies which account for 85 percent of the world's GDP were included in the index.

Sweden also topped the ranking when it was last published in 2007.

While all major emerging markets have shown improvements since 2000, PwC singled out countries from central and eastern Europe as having shown "particularly strong rises".

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Advanced economies, meanwhile, have shown less pronounced advances an account of the global financial crisis.